Pressed Glass

Pressed glass was first made in the United States in the 1820s after the invention of glass pressing machines. Hundreds of patterns of pressed glass were made in complete table settings. Although the Boston and Sandwich Works was the most famous of the pressed glass factories, there were about sixteen other factories making pressed glass from 1830 to 1850, and still more from 1850 to 1900, when pressed glass reached its greatest popularity. More complicated pieces like lamps, candlesticks, and compotes, were made of several small pressed pieces and then joined together with hot glass. It is now being widely reproduced. The pattern names used in this listing are based on the information in the book Pressed Glass in America by John and Elizabeth Welker. There may be pieces of pressed glass listed here in other categories, such as Lamp, Ruby, Sandwich, and Souvenir.